October 28, 2019
The Blowout That Almost Was
One of the joys of cycle touring is being out there in the "wild" with a very pared down, yet efficient, set of gear - ready for most eventualities. But one of the joys of being at home is having virtually unlimited equipment, light, time, and information. And if all else fails, go to bed (your own bed!) and things may look differently tomorrow.
This morning Dodie's rear tire - now resting quietly at home - was dead flat. Time to roll out the Unlimited resources (especially light - it's so helpful to actually see what you are looking at!) and see what the problem was.
Dodie's Dutch bike has been so reliable in its over 5000 km of travel that I have never had to pull the back wheel. That project, so easy and familiar on many bikes, has a few tricks in this one. But as I say, with light, space, tools, and time, it's easy!
A nice laundry tub of water also quickly revealed what I had suspected. The leak was coming from the valve. And why? Bike tube valves normally have screw in cores. Screwing them out makes it possible to add, if desired, compounds like Slime. To screw out the core from a Schrader style valve there is a flimsy and simple tool, or if you have a metal dust cover on the valve, that usually incorporates the tool. With Presta style valves there is no readily available tool, but one can try a needle nosed pliers. Otherwise, for example, there is the Park tool, #VC-1 ($16).
What happened with Dodie's bike is that the plastic dust cover on her Presta valve decided to temporarily act as a removal tool, popping the valve core into my hand and all the tire pressure into the atmosphere. Then when I tried to use the plastic cover to put the core back in, it decided to play the "who me?" card and refused to properly reinstall the core. But I interpreted the useless spinning of the dust cover as useless spinning of the core, so I just left it, half installed!
Yes indeed, half installed is half uninstalled. So it could have blown out at any time. (Are you sitting down, Dodie?).
But fear not, with my trusty needle nosed pliers I have screwed the core back in.
With Christmas coming, somebody might want to remember that Park tool, #VC-1!
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4 years ago